WASHINGTON — The desire to secede from the union is older than the United States itself — but technology has made the effort a lot easier.

Some 21,900 people have signed an online petition submitted to the White House “peacefully” asking the federal government to grant the state of Colorado permission to secede from the United States and create its own government.

It was started by “Lynette A.” in Golden and has been signed by thousands of people using just one name all across the nation — not just the Centennial State — who have likely signed similar petitions for the two dozen or so other states that have submitted similarly worded requests.

“Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and institute new government,” the petition says.

This form of rebellion isn’t new. White House officials say every year people submit petitions for state secession — they usually arrive around the time of a presidential election that undoubtedly a large percentage of the country is unhappy with.

But the Obama administration in 2011 made it much easier for just about anyone to — from the comforts of home — jump onto the electronic bandwagon by launching a “We The People” online petition process on its website.

The petitions on “We The People” are as diverse as the people who live in the United States.

Some ask for pardons for people in prison; there are petitions to unconditionally support Israel (550 signatures), provide financial coverage for sex-reassignment surgeries for transgender people (1,349 signatures) and create a “Michael Joseph Jackson” day of memory (369 signatures).

There is even a petition to shut down White House petitions (562 signatures).

With the advent of the online petition process, the White House says it responds only to those that reach 25,000 signatures.

Going into the holiday weekend, Colorado was about 3,100 John Hancocks shy of a response.

A local union president slammed by Donald Trump on Twitter stood his ground Thursday, maintaining the president-elect gave false hope to hundreds of workers by inflating the number of jobs being saved at a Carrier Corp. factory in Indianapolis.